Nashville, TN – Robert Anderson Middle School in Anderson, South Carolina, is the winner of a 2024 Gene Bottoms Pacesetter School Award from the Southern Regional Education Board.

The school was honored July 9 at SREB’s Making Schools Work Conference in Nashville.

Pacesetter Awards recognize schools that are implementing one of SREB’s Making Schools Work school improvement frameworks and are achieving success in meeting bold goals related to graduation rates, readiness for college and careers, and credential attainment.

Robert Anderson Middle School implements SREB’s school improvement design for middle schools. Led by a core team, faculty carefully selected six common practices that they felt would promote student engagement and learning. By implementing those strategies school-wide, teachers were able to create more engaging assignments, and classroom engagement rose exponentially.

To support and celebrate teachers’ use of these strategies, the school also began instructional classroom observation rounds to share ways teachers incorporated the practices within their disciplines. By sharing insights and experiences, teachers were able to refine their instructional techniques across subjects and grade levels.

On the 2023 South Carolina School Report Card, Robert Anderson moved from an overall rating of “average” to “good” and reading proficiency scores increased from 32.8% to 42%.

SREB’s Making Schools Work Conference is held annually and provides educators with opportunities to participate in professional development, network with colleagues from across the country and build school and district leadership capacity.

Contact: Janita Poe, SREB News Manager, at Janita.Poe@sreb.org or 404-879-5516, ext. 216

The Southern Regional Education Board works with states, districts and schools to improve education at every level, from early childhood through doctoral education and the workforce. An interstate compact and a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization based in Atlanta, SREB was created in 1948 by Southern governors and legislatures to advance education and improve the social and economic life of the region.